March 1, 2012 Rehearsal Notes

Last night's rehearsal was wonderful! We stayed in SATB the entire night and worked on our spring music, which was a nice refresher. So first of all, we worked on A Child's Prayer. We reviewed the entire thing and need to work on our phrasing  and make sure it doesn't sound the way we all sing it as a primary song. It needs to have movement and we need to emphasize the first syllables of two-syllable words. Then we reviewed Peace Like A River. Barb reminded us that each verse talks about a new concept: peace, faith and hope. We need to feel these things as we are singing this piece. Then we worked on Little Potato. It was a lot of fun to hear all the parts together. I think a lot of us got lost at some parts, so we need to be sure to work on this piece at home and get our rhythms, notes and entrances right. It's a fun song, but can be pretty tricky.

During the second half of the night we worked on Cindy with everyone together and with both choirs. I think this one is still confusing to some people, so please be sure to ask someone (you can ask me) if you need help finding your part or need help mapping through the piece so you don't lose your place. It helps me if I draw arrows at the beginning of each system pointing to where I need to sing next. This piece is also one that needs to be worked on at home so we can perform it better next rehearsal.  Lastly we went over mostly the beginning of My Soul's Been Anchored. We need to pay attention to Barb when she is directing the beat so that we don't get lost and the rhythms are different after we initially start singing. As always, please let me know if you have any questions or need help with anything. We are sounding great and I am so excited for our concerts!

During our announcement time we wrote down different messages that President Wiberg had for us last week. I think I got almost all of them, so here we go:

He expressed how grateful he was to be able to speak with us. He said that there are certain blessings received from having the voices of ages. He challenged us to always have the Spirit with us and to be able to share the Spirit with others. He felt that during church-related meetings the choir is one of the most important parts. Our work has a significant impact on others. We may never know which audience members we touch, but we should know that we do touch them in a special way. Music speaks to people in special ways. He also said that we are a treasured choir and they (the St. Paul Stake) have big plans for us.

I am so grateful that President Wiberg took time out to come and speak with us. He must feel that our work is very important or else he wouldn't have said such profound and inspired things.

Have a great week everyone!